election, he's saying that his big, bold idea is never mind. >> look, i've got five boys. i'm used to people saying something that's not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping i'll believe it. but that is not the case. i are not reduce the taxes paid by high income americans. >> round one in the books. the consensus this morning is neither candidate delivered a knockout blow. why both now turn their focus to some local voters. good morning and welcome to news4 today. i'm eun yang. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. the roads may be just slick enough to slow you down this morning. a live look outside right now at 6:00 a.m. we know that some folks are starting to see some rain drops coming through the area. tom kierein is here to break it all down for us. >> just some scattered light rain. don't have any heavy downpours like we had the other day. but enough to make the pavement wet, and for fender benders, as we've already had several of

those. right now, all of this coming as a front is moving into our area and going to bring an end to the high humidity. it's still humid this morning with the showers. there are some moderate showers where you see this one batch of orange and yellow here in western charles county. that's advancing a bit to the north and east and should be around the prince george's county beltway in about ten minutes. the rest of northern virginia, just a few scattered light sprinkles. much of maryland and up in toward the pennsylvania border. temperatures are mild in the mugginess. we're in the low to mid 70s around the immediate metro area. farther west and north it's in the 60s. storm team 4 hour by hour today, by 7:00 a.m., still a few passing light showers and near 70 by noontime. we ought to get up to around 80 or so by mid afternoon. you'll notice the humidity will be lowering as we get into the

afternoon. danella with your first four traffic this thursday morning. good morning. >> this report we're still following, breaking news. if you're making the commute there, northbound ox road. a live look at chopper 4 there in germantown. here's what's happening as you make your way westbound at germantown road. at southbound for the i-270 exit, that's where this is. one is already loaded and ready to be towed out of the way, but the other is about to be towed out of the way. for now, all of your westbound lanes are blocked, and as chopper zooms out, you're going to see you're facing major delays. an alternate route for you is to make middlebrook road instead and you then can get to i-270 if you want to, but just avoid germantown road southbound at this time. it is back to the campaign trail for president oba and mitt romney today. >> both candidates will stump for votes in battleground states a day after their first debate.

the president heads to wisconsin where he'll visit the university of wisconsin campus in madison. mitt romney travels to virginia. he'll campaign alongside his running mate paul ryan in central virginia. president obama will be in northern virginia tomorrow. >> the candidates kept things civil during last night's debate in denver. they were still pointed, though, in criticizing each other's policies and plans. the president went after mitt romney on how he plans to pay for his tax cuts. mitt romney used vice president joe biden's own words in describing the middle class's struggles. >> you think by closing looph e loopholes and deductions for the well-to-do, somehow you will not end up picking up the tab, then governor romney's plan may work for you. but i think math, common sense, and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth.

>> under the president's policies, middle income americans have been buried. they're just being crushed. middle income americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. this is a tax in and of itself. i'll call it the economy tax. it's been crushing. >> earlier in the week, vice president biden had said the middle class has been buried for the past four years. the issue they came closest to agreeing on, social security. the candidates here last night also sparred on other issues, including job creation, deficit reduction and health care. >> the presidential candidates will next square off on october 16th in long island. the second debate will take place on the campus of hofstra university, and it will be in the format of a town hall meeting. that means undecided voters will ask the questions. the candidates will focus on foreign and domestic policy. we've learned that first lady michelle obama will make another trip to virginia next week to campaign for her husband. she will visit loudoun county on tuesday, october 9th.

we'll pass along additional details as they become available. the announcement highlights just how important northern virginia is in the race for the white house. tomorrow president obama will be in fairfax county where he will speak at george mason university. tim kaine opening up the gap in virginia's hotly contested senate race. a new poll by nbc news, "the wall street journal" and maris shows tim kaine leading republican george allen 49% to 44%. that's among likely voters. it breaks a deadlock the two candidates were in just three weeks ago when each received 46% of the support in the same poll. tim kaine's camp believes they are getting some help from the president who has also seen a bump in the state in recent weeks. montgomery county police are on the hunt for the suspect who brutally attacked a man and left him for dead. this 72-year-old man was reportedly on his way to the mega latino market a few blocks away from his house on tuesday night but never arrived at the store. instead, guzman's son found him

early yesterday morning lying unconscious in a parking lot. he suffered a severe brain injury in the attack and is in critical condition. >> i don't think he was able to defend himself at all. the way they did this to him, they left him in the cold, in the rain without clothes, take off his shoes and everything. i can't believe it. >> montgomery county police handed out flyers in the community yesterday in hopes of catching his attacker. this morning the reflecting pool is mostly empty as the national park service tries to solve a growing algae problem. they drained it yesterday afternoon after algae continued to spread. when the pool is eventually refilled, it will have different chemicals in it to try to prevent the algae from regrowing. the reflecting pool was closed for two years as part of a $34 million renovation project. ahead, one author's claim about what the president really wanted to see happen to osama

bin laden. red box tested out selling something very different. >> a slick start. some rain drops will greet you when you step outside this morning. when things will clear up. weather and traffic on 1s.

you may think you are the ultimate redskins fan, but does your yard look like this? clevan gillespie has transformed his front yard to a giant tribute the team. he says he grew up watching the likes of joe theismann and decided to use his skills as a landscaper to honor the team. every year he says he freshens up the lawn with a few hundred dollars of mulch. he says it's pretty easy to maintain. looked good. >> is that gold really?

>> it's hard to do a true gold in the yard, though, right? >> with the plants. but it looks good. much better than anything i could do. time for weather and traffic. tom kierein in the storm center with the latest on our forecast. hi, tom. >> rain on the mulch this morning. good morning. weather and traffic on the 1s right now at 6:11. we do have some sprinkles in the metro area and farther to south in charles county and from king george county all the way into southern prince george's, there is a swift moving line of moderate showers. but that's moving rapidly off to the east northeast. hometown forecast for alexandria, by 8:00 a.m., still a few sprinkles and near 70. during the afternoon, sunshine breaking up. by early afternoon, mid 70s. ought to hit near 80 as lower humidity moves in. i'm back with a look at the end of the week and the weekend. that's in ten minutes. danella has a look at traffic now. >> still tracking breaking news on the roads. starting in fairfax, if you're traveling along northbound ox road at monument road, all of

your lanes are blocked and i'm seeing significant delays on monument drive. as your make your way westbound, good news, the crash is cleared and your travel lanes are open. i'm back in ten with another update. shut out. the plan quickly shot down to squeeze some extra dollars from nats fans. next, the guy in the orange jump chute just found out he's going to prison. what he

i'm at the live desk with break news for you. tensions extremely high along the turkey-syria border right now. turkish artillery hit a border town this morning killing ten syrian soldiers and activists. this is the second day of attacks out of turkey. it started after syrian forces attacked a turkish village, killing five people yesterday. at this hour, turkey's parliament is in an emergency session. they're talking about a bill that would authorize the military to launch operations in syria. nato is also holding an emergency meeting on the conflict. at the live desk, news4. here's one inmate who won't qualify for good behavior. he will spend additional time behind bars for attacking his lawyer. he is just sentenced to 15 years in prison when he punched his public defender in the mouth. williamson was already convicted of attacking and robbing a college student in south carolina.

he was charged with criminal contempt and given an additional six months in prison for attacking the lawyer. a philadelphia police officer will be fired after he was caught on this tape here punching a woman in the face during an arrest. the video shows somebody throwing something at a group of officers. lieutenant jonathan josie in the white shirt there grabs a woman and punches her in the face before arresting her. the woman was charged with disorderly conduct but police say the charge will eventually be dropped. a new book says president obama hoped to put osama bin laden on trial if he surrendered. the book "the finish" is due out on october 16th. the author mark bowden says the president thought he could make a political argument for giving bin laden rights of a criminal defendant and this would be the first time the president discussed putting the terror leader on trial. they were ordered to capture bin laden if he surrendered or kill him if he threatened them.

secretary of state hillary clinton is calling for a full and transparent investigation into the consulate attack in benghazi, libya. an independent panel will examine security concerns and whether proper procedures were followed. the attack killed u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. some republicans have suggested the state department denied repeated requests for extra security at the mission. an italian man who attracted worldwide attention for staging a protest on the dome of st. peter's basilica has now come down. that man, who owns a beach front concession stand in northern italy, climbed out on to the ledge in vatican city on tuesday and stayed there for 24 hours. he finally agreed to come down after italy's tourism minister promised to meet with a group of beach concession owners about new rules that impact their business. everyone is trying to cash in on the natiols' playoff run, but mayor vincent gray is stepping in the keep you from paying more on your ride to and from the ballpark. the d.c. taxicab commission announced a dollar surcharge that would begin two hours

before each home playoff game and last until 4:00 the next morning, but they quickly rescinded the fee after a call from the mayor who said the charge was iladvised. d.c. police have put hundreds of officers on standby. they say, however, that their regular duties will not be affected. if all goes well, fans will be making plenty of trips to nats park this october. the team locked up the best record in baseball and home field advantage throughout the playoffs with a 5-1 win over the phillies yesterday. both ryan zimmerman and michael morris smacked home runs in the game. the nationals' first playoff game will be sunday in either atlanta or st. louis depending on who wins the wild card game tomorrow. the winner's going to be -- teddy! >> well, the streak is broken. it only took six years and 539 tries. teddy finally won the president's race yesterday. before the dash, he was given this shiny pair of new under

armor shoes. those yellow ones. it seemed to do the trick too along with some help from the philly fake phanatic. it is the first time since the race started in 2006 that teddy has won that race. he soaked it up and came out and did another victory lap later on in the game. >> crowd went wild. he's even taking off his jersey right there. >> winning! >> teddy's losing streak is over and so is the orioles' playoff drought. >> the o's will play in a postseason game tomorrow for the first time in 15 years. they take on the texas rangers in the american league wild card game. baltimore could have won the american league eastern division, but lost last night to the rays. the yankees also won last night and clinched the division title. the orioles will play the yankees in the american league division series if they win tomorrow. >> the detroit tigers are also in the playoffs thanks to miguel cabrera's historic season. he won the american league triple crown. cabrera finished the regular season as the american league leader in home runs, rbis, and

batting average. karl yastrzemski of the red sox was the last player to win the triple crown. that was in 1967. red box is hoping that the next time you pick up a dvd, you grab some concert tickets as well. the kiosk will soon sell tickets to live events along with the dvd rentals. tickets will have just a $1 service fee. they say it's another way to sell event tickets that might have a tough time of selling out. they are doing a test run in philadelphia and hopes to expand that in other major cities. >> what if you can't get good seats? >> sometimes online you can play around physical you find seats that you really like and hope that they don't cancel your concert on you before you get ready to go. >> you're not better at all. >> no john legend coming to d.c. meteorologist tom kierein here to tell us about some rain heading our way. >> some scattered showers around the metro area. grab an umbrella before you head

out the door. this coming ahead of a weak front from the carolinas into virginia and the district getting a few passing light showers, but some moderate showers. these areas in yellow and orange in charles county just coming into southern prince george's county. just east of the beltway in prince george's county over next 15 minutes. right now, it's a rather mild, muggy morning. we're in the low to mid 70s in the metro area. four-day forecast, we'll get some sunshine by this afternoon with highs reaching near 80 and you'll notice the humidity will be lower. cool night tonight, 50s tomorrow morning, sunny tomorrow near 80 and low humidity. delightful day. saturday, increasing clouds, mid 70s, maybe an afternoon or evening shower, but a likelihood of passing, cool showers on sunday. a chilly start and dry for monday, tuesday, wednesday next week. danella, how's our traffic now? >> still tracking breaking news on the roads. we're heading to fairfax. this is where you'll see chopper

4's live view of west ox road at monument drive. all of your southbound lanes are blocked. this was a medevac operation. i'm told medevac has left the scene, but there's still a disabled vehicle and you can see police, a heavy presence at this intersection. so again, all your southbound lanes are blocked at west ox road at the intersection of monument drive. also as we head over to i-95 in virginia at prince william parkway northbound, had a crash there. it's in the right shoulder lane. but you're really slow on i-95, jammed even as you continue northbound past lorton. solid delays to the beltway. that drive will take you at least 24 minutes to get from prince william parkway to the capital beltway. back to you. a local couple comes home with a whale of a tale. their amazing close encounter with a curious creature. after the break, the name parents in virginia, maryland and d.c. all agr

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another reason to skip the fast-food. a new study out of london shows

children who regularly eat freshly cooked meals have higher iqs. researchers say nutrition has long-lasting effects. they found that parents with a higher socioeconomic status were more likely to feed their children meals made with fresh ingredients. scientists say this study looked at the source of generic meal types rather than just specific foods. sophia seems to be the name of choice for baby girls in our region. it ranked number one in maryland, virginia and d.c. according to a new list by the social security administration. it breaks down the most popular names by state. mason topped the list for boys names in maryland. william ranked first in virginia and in the district. in west virginia, madison was number one for boys and isabella was the most popular girl name. all good names. very nice. >> yes, we've agreed on those. >> i know all kids will buy those names. the silicon valley giant that could be coming to southeast d.c. plus, the source of a deadly meningitis outbreak that spread

to maryland and virginia. also police putting girls in one local neighborhood on alert this morning. the repeat offender they're looking for. >> just enough to reach for

talk about ruffled feathers.

and now, from washington's leading news station, this is news4 today. >> deadly outbreak. the source of the rare disease that has spread to patients in virginia and maryland. and a sight to see. a local couple back from vacation with a vacation video that people will actually want to watch. good morning, everybody. welcome back to news4 today. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. we are also tracking reaction to the first presidential debate. the debate focused largely on the economy and health care. mark murray will join us to talk

about how both candidates fared. a little bit later, the candidates often talk about main street. it is rare that they mention "sesame street." the online explosion in a response to a comment made by mitt romney. right now, some morning rain hanging around just enough to slow you down. >> tom kierein out on the storm 4 team weather deck this morning. >> just enough rain for an umbrella. getting just a few sprinkles here at northwest right now. the air is thick with humidity. it stayed humid overnight from yesterday. as we take a look at the storm team 4 radar, right now we are getting these passing showers moving from the southwest toward the northeast. these will be with us here perhaps for another couple of hours. they're moving fairly quickly off to the north and east, and right now right around the metro area, we have those showers a little bit heavier to our south in charles county and in prince george's and it is certainly a muggy morning. 60s farther west at north. throughout the rest of the day

today, we'll have some sunshine breaking out and highs reaching near 80 this afternoon. delightful pattern tomorrow, could get some showers maybe on saturday afternoon and evening and perhaps into early sunday morning. then a greater chance of some showers on sunday with the temperatures only reaching the upper 50s. so a dramatic change coming here over the next several days. i'll be back in ten minutes with another hometown forecast and another look at storm team 4 radar. right now, a look at your morning commute. how's the rain affecting things, danella? >> yeah, fender bender weather. i'm still tracking breaking news on the roadway. first we're going to start in fairfax. southbound at monument drive, all the lanes closed. manassas, signal hill road. here's a live look from chopper 4. you can see the right side of the roadway is blocked right now by the accident. balance is on the scene. i can also see that a tow truck is there as well.

police also on the scene in the intersection, so you are able to get by, but on the left, the left lane is getting you by and you are slow in this area. please be aware of this accident. you can see also police are -- as well as the fire department, just blocking multiple lanes here so. just use caution as you make your way through the intersection. i'm back in ten minutes. a meningitis outbreak is expected to expand as health officials track down people who got a contaminated steroid shot. 26 people have become sick in five states including virginia and maryland. four died. all got steroid injections, mostly for back pain. a pharmacy in massachusetts was the supplier and has since closed. experts say the form of meningitis in this outbreak is not contagious and was caused bay fungus often found in leaf mold. fairfax county police trying to figure out if a string of sexual assaults in the springfield area are connected. the latest incident happened tuesday night on hibling avenue.

a 15-year-old girl says a man grabbed her from behind and assaulted her. this is the fourth attack like this to happen in springfield in the past month. all of the victims in these attacks have been teenage girls. this morning police in two states are conducting separate searches for missing teenagers. in virginia, 17-year-old brian glen was last seen on monday dropping off his brother at woodson high school in fairfax. a short time later, his car was found at face park about a mile and a half away. police and bloodhounds are combing the area but so far have found nothing. inside the car was a receipt from a nearby dunkin' donuts. his father says that is unusual and leads him to believe something happened to his son. >> so all this to us is saying that he's still here somewhere. we've got to find him. he hasn't run away because he hasn't tried to run away. >> as of now, the police say there are no indications of foul play. and in maryland, police are searching for 15-year-old deriante hebron of rockville.

he is 5'8" inches tall and about 110 pounds. family members say he likes to spend time at the glenmon shopping center. if you have any information about his whereabouts, call montgomery county police. a prince william county woman is sharing her close encounter with a whale shark. sheryl mcwilliams is a firefighter and dive instructor. she was exploring a ship wreck off the coast of florida when the whale shark came right up to her. the newspaper reporter captured this video. mcwilliams says she was not scared and even reached up to touch the shark. >> it's like almost seeing a school bus under water. it's 25 feet long. it's just enormous. you're awe-struck. >> yeah, you are. mcwilliams says sharks typically get a bad rap and many of them are endangered. she says she hopes this video will help to improve sharks' image. >> apparently whale sharks don't

eat meat, so she was fine. >> i guess if you know you're approaching that type of shark, although i wouldn't take the chance. >> how cool is that, though? ahead, the virginia man who got a deal so good on a new car it landed him in jail. >> plus, on a night when the focus was on the presidential candidates, why everybody on twitter and facebook was talking about this guy, big bird. >> what's it worth to you? what you can now pay facebook to do. and chopper 4 busy this morning over the scene of another crash. the

social media knows no boundaries. what

welcome back. it appears nasa's mars rover is addicted to social media. the curiosity rover checked in at the gale crater yesterday. it posted this picture and even left a tip.

curiosity reported that mars is cold, dry, and rocky. extra moisturizer and sturdy shoes would be a good idea. plus oxygen for those of you who breathe. >> that is good advice. >> this is the first check-in ever on mars. astronaut douglas welock checked in from the international space station. apparently curiosity is one check-in away from becoming the may yr or of the gale crater. i like the tips. time for weather and traffic. >> tom kierein telling us about some rain moving through the area this morning. >> by contrast, here on planet earth, it's wet. good morning. right now at 6:41, we've got a few sprinkles in the metro area, advancing southwest to northeast on storm team 4 radar. close-up view showing some more moderate showers, the little speckles of yellow advancing northeast over the next few minutes.

farther west and north, just a few scattered sprinkles. hometown forecast, by 8:00 a.m. around 70. by early afternoon, sunshine break out into the upper 70s by 1:00. for the whole region this afternoon, we ought to peak around 80. by mid afternoon, lower humidity moving back in. big changes on the way for friday and the weekend. details on that in ten minutes. how's traffic now? >> it's a bumpy commute if you're traveling in our area. southbound west ox road at monument drive, still seeing all lanes blocked by the crash there. northbound liberia avenue at signal hill road, one lane gets you by and it's going to be the left lane. you can still see an an active accident scene in this area. and you are delayed. let's head over to the district. northwest pennsylvania avenue at 12th street, crash there involves a pedestrian.

please use caution if you're traveling in that intersection. the outer loop of the beltway, heavy on the brakes delayed the entire way to get to 270. that drive is going to take you 22 minutes as you make your way from i-95 to 270. breaking news just in. melissa at the news4 live desk. >> a suspected u.s. drone strike has killed at least five militants in yemen. the drone hit two cars traveling in a southern province. the u.s. doesn't usually comment on such attacks but has used drones there in the past. there are no details on the identities of those targeted. 18 before the hour, as we move to decision 2012, mitt romney heads to virginia today. he'll call pain alongside his vice presidential nominee paul ryan in central virginia. it is first time the two republicans are appearing together in the commonwealth since romney introduced ryan as his running mate in august. president obama will be in northern virginia tomorrow. we've just learned that first lady michelle obama will make a trip to virginia next week to campaign for her husband.

he'll visit loudoun county again on tuesday, october 9th. we'll pass along additional details as they come in. the announcement highlights just how important northern virginia is in the race for white house. tomorrow, president obama will be in fairfax county where he'll speak at george mason university. both campaigns are claiming victory after last night's first presidential debate. the candidates squared off in denver. president obama defended his own policies while criticizing mitt romney's plan to improve the economy. his republican rival called the president's policies over the past four years a failure. >> it ultimately is going to be up to the voters, to you, which path we should take. are we going to double down on the top-down economic policies that helped to get us into the mess or break a new economic patriotism that says america does best when the middle class does best. >> i'm concerned that the path that we're on has just been unsuccessful. the president has a view very similar to the view he had when he ran four years ago, that a bigger government, spending more, taxing more, regulating

more, if you will, trickle down goth, would work. that's not the right answer for america. i'll restore the vitality that gets america working again. >> the candidates' next debate will take place october 16th in long island. joining us now to talk about last night's debate is nbc news senior political editor mark murray. we appreciate you coming in this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> coming out of these debates, a lot of people like to declare a winner. the consensus seems to be that mitt romney was that last night. what put him in that position? >> mitt romney helped himself and came across as very energetic, he was concise, even funny in a lot of his answers. the format actually ended up benefiting him because you elevate the challenger. president obama has been campaigning with the air force one, being able to ride on air force one, having the presidential seal at his podium. now mitt romney was elevated to president obama's level. i was reminded in 2004 when john kerry was challenging george w. bush and we saw a similar debate performance where the challenger came out swinging, did very, very well. the incumbent president was a

little bit on his heels mainly because sometime you're not used to being challenged by somebody in that type of setting. so we move to the next debate. it seems like mitt romney did very well on style, although substance might have been a different matter. >> speaking of substance, a lot of people thought this debate was more informative, but did these issues and ideas connect to the voters? >> i think so. you look at this abroad, there were so many statistics that were at issue. i did think it was a very substantive debate, but going on the substantive part, i think the next 24 hours or so, the obama campaign has the opportunity to seize on some of the facts that mitt romney was citing. one of the things he talked about, he said my tax plan isn't going to benefit wealthy high income americans, but every tax analysis out there shows that the wealthiest are going to be the ones who would end up getting the biggest benefit from his tax plan. so it will be interesting to see. i think mitt romney won the first 24 hours or so. it will be interesting to see what ends up happening the next 24 hours.

>> the point a lot of people are making is will the debates actually make a difference in terms of helping people decide who they're going to vote for? conventional wisdom is maybe not so much, right? >> usually they don't. in that 2004 race, john kerry ended up winning almost all three debates against george w. bush and was able to battle back from a deficit into a tie. republican pollster bill mcinturf said it would take something momentous to change the fundamentals. i think we'll look to the polls to see if last night's debate really made a dent. >> did this debate hurt president obama? a lot of people felt he was trying to not mess up. was he too passive? was it too safe? >> you know, it's hard to say if he really messed up. he had the opportunity with a decisive victory to pretty much be able to put this election behind himself. we had seen all the polls. he actually holds a narrow lead. but even greater leads in some of the presidential battleground states like in ohio. so a decisive victory for him,

we would start looking ahead to the general election and say he has the clear advantage. so on that front, i don't think that he succeeded, but he has two more debates to go. as we were just talking about, i'm not sure, and the history proves this, that these debates -- all that matter about voter preferences. >> mark murray, we appreciate you coming in. we'll see more analysis on the "today" show coming up in a few minutes. for some voters, last night's debate may forever be known as the big bird debate. that's because of a comment mitt romney made while detailing what spending cuts he would make as president. >> i'm sorry, jim, i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i'm going to stop other things. i like pbs. i like big bird. i actually like you, too. but i'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for. that's number one. >> that comment definitely ruffled some feathers. in fact, someone created a twitter handle "fired big bird." he or she has sent out several tweets and pictures, fired big

bird has already more than 23,000 followers. the vice presidential candidates will face off in their only debate a week from today. it will take place at center college in danville, kentucky. the maryland congressman chris van holland has been playing the role of paul ryan. the next presidential debate will be on october 16th in long island, new york. the second debate will take place on the campus of hofstra university and will be in the format of a town hall meeting. that means undecided voters will ask the questions. the candidates will focus on foreign and co-do mdomestic pol. tim kaine is opening up a gap in the virginia senate race. tim kaine is leading republican george allen 48% to 44%. that breaks a deadlock the two candidates were in just three weeks ago when each received 46% of support in the same poll. a maryland man is in critical condition this morning

after he was brutally attacked and left for dead. police say the 72-year-old man was walking to the mega latino market a few blocks from his home on tuesday night. the next morning, guzman's son found him beaten and robbed lying unconscious in a parking lot. he suffered a severe brain injury in that attack. >> i'm very sad. we are -- all our family are very sad. we still can't believe it that this happened. we just hope that he's going to really recover completely so he can -- so he'll be able to tell us at least if he knows who did this to him. >> montgomery county police handed out fliers in the community yesterday in hopes of catching guzman's attacker. a teacher at a d.c. daycare center faces disciplinary action after a toddler was left behind in a playground. two nannies found the boy with no shoes at livingston park. a park attendant called police. the boy was left behind during a trip to the playground at friendship children's center. it realized the child was missing when his father came to pick him up. the boy was not hurt.

district education officials launched an investigation. facebook for a fee. the social network revealing a new charge to get your posts noticed. jackie has that story this morning. >> facebook has long said that it's free and it always will be. but that's unless you want more of your friends to see what you have to say. the social media giant is rolling out a feature to let users pay to promote their posts, just like the advertisers do. the service has been tested in new zealand and gradually introduced in 20 other countries. facebook saying that promoting a post like announcing a garage sale or engagement will bump it up higher in your friends' news feed. facebook hasn't set a definitive price for promoting a post, but some say that you could see prices of $7 per update. aaron, back over to you. >> thank you. one of the world's largest tech companies could be coming to the district. microsoft is one of three companies chosen by mayor vincent gray to develop a technology center on the campus of st. elizabeth's hospital.

a french lighting company and atlanta based smart bim are the other two. the mayor hopes the revitalization will turn the center for an area of revitalization. time for a look at weather and traffic on the 1s. tom is here. >> i see a little streak of light on the eastern horizon. the sunrises at 7:07 this morning. we're getting some gorgeous autumn color beginning to show up, some individual trees here locally. but look at this. this is in eastern west virginia. this photo sent in by paul roddy. gorgeous autumn color there. it is certainly near peak and will be peak throughout much of west virginia and western maryland for this weekend. send your pics to weather@nbcwashington.com. there's a slice of daylight there. still a few sprinkles at reagan

national. the dew point is still up around 70. the air is still thick with humidity. and we have these passing showers moving southwest to northeast across virginia and into the district and maryland. these areas in green are just some sprinkles. maybe raining a little bit harder around prince george's county. it's heading off to the north and east. brandywine getting a moderate shower. in annapolis, a few of those moderate showers. but farther to our west, many locations are drying out, just a few scattered sprinkles there remaining. and behind this front and where it's much drier, it's much cooler. it's only in the low 50s in much of ohio now. drier air too will be moving in by later this afternoon, but between now and then, you're going to need an umbrella here for maybe another couple of hours and then we'll have temperatures by 8:00. by noontime, it will all be gone. it will be drying out and we'll have some sunshine trying to break out. we'll be in the mid 70s by then.

ought to hit mid 80. we'll be back down to the mid 70s by early evening and by dawn friday, the 50s and lower humidity in place tomorrow. beautiful day on friday. call in sick. highs reaching near 80 degrees. on saturday, we'll have increasing clouds into the mid 70s, maybe a passing shower saturday afternoon or evening. right now, sunday is looking like a rather wet day. stay in and watch football. it will be in the upper 50s for highs. starting off first part of next week, we will have cooler autumn weather moving in, and dry, too. how's traffic? >> i really like your friday plan. perfect sick day. 80 degrees, right? let's head to the roadway. it is going to be bumpy, seeing delays and accidents. northbound liberia avenue at signal hill road. the left lane will get you by the accident. active accident scene, blocking the right lane for you. heading over 66 as you make your way eastbound, it is a slow

trip. slow all the way to the beltway about 31 miles per hour. that drive taking 19 minutes. and also in the district, pennsylvania avenue at 12th street. this is in northwest. crash there involves a pedestrian. please use caution as you make your way through that intersection. this morning, you might be questioning the conventional wisdom that gas prices fall after labor day. prices at the pump have actually started to trickle down across the country, but they remain at near record highs for this time of year. experts blame refinery and pipeline problems for the higher prices. averages just in from triple-a show prices up a penny in d.c. today to $3.90. you levelled off in virginia at $3.61. prices down a penny in maryland. also down one cent to $3.84 in west virginia. it's a deal so good it's illegal. police arrested a virginia man for stealing a car that he paid for. danny sawyer says he bought an suv from a dealership in chesapeake, virginia, he says they made a mistake and sold it

for $5,000 less than they should have. they wanted him to sign a new contract, he refused and they called police saying he stole the suv. sawyer is now suing the dealership. he signed the contract. that's not his fault. 6:55 is your time right now. a british team is closer to building a car that they hope will break the sound barrier and smash the land speed record. the team tested a rocket engine yesterday that they hope will help push the car to a thousand miles per hour. the rocket will be used along with a fighter jet engine to create the same amount of horsepower as 95 formula one cars. they hope to run the car in 2014 in south africa and break the previous land speed record of 763 miles per hour. what did tim allen say? more power. the national park service is still working to try and solve an algae problem with the reflecting pool. crews drained the pool yesterday after algae continued to spread

across the pool. when the pool is refilled, it will have different chemicals in it to try and prevent the algae from regrowing. the reflecting pool was closed for two years as part of a $34 million renovation project. that is news4 today. thank you for starting your day with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with weather, trafficking and any breaking news. we're back here tomorrow morning at 4:28. until then, have a great day. we'll see you tomorrow. >> make it a great thursday, everybody. [ male announcer ] for the dreamers...

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